Wonderful Wonderful Romance: Of Memories Museums and Mausoleums
by chaos-dark-lord
Summary: Jericho knows he should be dead. However he is still alive and looks like the memory of someone dead. Who is this woman really? Is she just a mercenary? How did she achieved to restore Diamond? Maybe she can do something to stop him from disappearing too.
1. Already dead

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**Follow–up romance route for the series "Wonderful Wonderful Science". So it's recommended to read that.**

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**CHAPTER 1: ALREADY DEAD**

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Jericho Bermuda, the "dodo", gravedigger, mafia boss, museum director and whatever else he was, was uneasy. He returned to his own territory after being defrozen by a kitten, seeing a foreigner that seemed to know him and was lost fighting the Jabberwocky, teaming up with the prime ministers of Diamond and Hearts and the other roleholders in order to fight the dreaded creature of shadows and destruction that could have ended all… and somehow he was still alive.

It had all started because of him. To maintain himself alive he had taken upon as many roles as he could to get their power, and that had caused the country of Diamond to be imbalanced and start to slowly die out and get separated from the rest of Wonderland. It came to a point where it was an all out war with too few people to be considered that; the hatters had launched attacks against his forces, but it had been the queen of Diamond who had bested him, using all the power of her role and consuming herself to freeze him in time, to gain some for the remains of the country.

He didn't know what had happened then but it felt like a long cold sleep to him, and then he had been woken up when the ice encasing his body inside the painting of the coliseum at his museum had been shattered by the powerful roar of "the lion", a role thought lost that corresponded to the representative and nominal ruler of this side of the mirror world. The lion in truth happened to be a little kitten called Bunsen that had somehow passed the test for it.

He finally reached the museum. It was still empty of people but upon entering it and heading for his office he saw that the paintings were getting back their lives. And he somehow knew that it was because of her, the fighting foreigner owner of Bunsen that had been lost into a portal after she defeated the Jabberwocky.

Jericho had seen her briefly for a couple seconds before the Jabberwocky dragged her into a patio of the castle and enclosed it. Then he had seen her fight like a devil, first to attack the hatter and a woman that was with him that looked suspiciously like Alice Lidell; then the Jabberwocky showed the armored fighting foreigner her something so dreary that she stopped reacting all together, until the prime minister of hearts had appeared and had asked him to tell mercenary woman something encouraging with a thick accent. He had done so by called out her with a "_HEY GURL! DON´T DIE, FIGHT, DA?!_" , just when she had been thrown in the air and about to be swallowed by the draconic mass of shadows that was the Jabberwocky.

She had look at him with longing, determination and recognition. Then, as if those words and the accent had been the magic words, she had fought the Jabberwocky itself. She had done so by commanding faceless with weapons that could actually hurt the creature; a creature that nothing from Wonderland could hurt, while the roleholders from hearts and Clover had appeared but couldn't really join the fight; then when the ammunition that had been killing the lives stolen and used by the Jabberwocky had run out, she had continued fighting by somehow bringing from her world a huge war machine, a mechanical big armor that she had used to fight on equal monstrous ground. It had been the most impressive thing he'd ever seen. However it had not been enough, almost but not quite, and the strange female, along Alice Lidell, the first foreigner, had teamed up to use the winxy pistol and draw the creature towards a portal. The fighting foreigner had thrown Alice aside, but she hadn't escape being sent to the portal by the eroding creatures mass in it's last dash; then the portal was closed and had disappeared along with any trace of her.

He finally reached his office and checked that everything was there just to keep his mind occupied; when he reached for the room with the magic mirror that could take someone to a desired destination, he found another surprise; the mirror was in perfect state. It had somehow being restored and was as good as new when it had been previously broken when he used it to evacuate the faceless population to the other countries before Diamond was lost.

He passed his hand over his hair and then pinched the brick of his nose_ -"I wish I knew what the hell's been going on..." _

As soon as his words left his lips the mirror began glowing and he saw the armor clad mercenary foreigner with multishaded blond hair, sleeping in a nowhere limbo below the mirror's surface. She was a strange and mysterious sight. He had never seen a foreigner like her, well, the only foreigner he knew was Alice Lidell and the rest was just stories, legends and folk knowledge; but still… the armored plastic like suit, the long braid at the base of her nape or the gear attached to her tactic attire was not what a foreigner was expected to look like.

Suddenly, shadows began forming tendril around her and the image in the mirror began blurring. Without a doubt he extended his arm, passing straight through the mirror's surface, and grabbed her by the wrist. He pulled her to get her out of the mirror by tugging her harder than the tendrils of darkness with such force that when she was out of the mirror and it stopped glowing to become a normal mirror again, her unconscious form ended up on top of him.

She was still unconscious, her face was impassive and her breathing was regular; was also way heavier than she looked.

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**Sadly I have limited time to write, so updates will be determined by which story is reviewed. **


	2. Condused identity

**I good my interest renewed in this one thanks to 'Sleepig Moon', and I think this will present a bunch of interesting situations.**

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**CHAPTER 2: CONFUSED IDENTITY**

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Jericho had done little but to watch her sleep for a while. The outsider was impassive and the Dodo's mind was muddled with anxiety. Where had she been to have been at the other side of the mirror? And what was that darkness? She had also been completely unmoving for long, and although he felt her game going on, he was getting worried she might be really hurt or sick. He got close to lay the back of his hand over her forehead to check on her temperature, and when his fresh touched hers, she opened her eyes.

Her shady olive green shades crossed with his icy blue eyes - _"I'm dying and hallucinating... great_..." -Her voice was monotonous but the faint ghost of a smile graced her lips- _"I like that the hallucination is you_."- She proceeded to grab on his neck and kiss him straight on the lips with soft and faint want.

Jericho was so surprised that for the first seconds that he didn't do anything, then he finally reacted and pushed her away.- "_Wait a second girl…"_

Aria moved away and sat on the coach while looking at him with suspicion-"_What happened to your accent_?"

Jericho raised an eyebrow, remembering that he had been asked by the prime minister to use a thick accent when he called out to her during the battle – "_What accent?" You ahh... Are you feeling well miss foreigner_?"

Aria looked confused - "_Foreigner? Where am I...?"_

The dodo knew things weren't completely right, at least not for her.- "_You are In the art museum, in the country of Diamond, in Wonderland?... Don´t you remember?"_

She closed her eyes and frowned while taking her hand to her temple.- "_Diamond? Wonderland?... So I'm not dead? "_

He looked at her with a bit of pity. Foreigners always had it rough in this world, didn't they? And after seeing her in that battle, well, she might as well had it even rougher-"_Err... no. But you were unconscious for a while. Do you remember everything? I mean, since you came to this world?"_

She lowered her hand and put it over her lap before she opened her eyes to look at him up and down before locking gazes with him, and remained harshly doing so for some very long and tense seconds_-"I'm not sure. I'll perform a fast scan._" -She rose her forearm and it lit show letters, images and graphics, all of them passing by at a fast speed while her eyes glowed with an echoing digital light.

He remained quiet but unnerved until her little act ended a couple of minutes after.

She once again looked at him and stood up from the coach so shakily that she had to sit down again with his help. She finally let out a sigh and exclaimed the question that had been lingering in her eyes. - "_Who are you?"_

"_Who did you thought I was?"-_ By now her demeanor had changed to a more reserved and wary one, he was curious who she had thought he was. A girl didn't say 'good morning' to a guy with an almost gentle kiss, unless said guy was someone that had earned it.

"_A man already dead."-_ She sighed and looked away, while an almost undetectable shadow of sadness crept over her gaze. Then she gritted her teeth for a second and looked at him again with a perfectly still poker face- "_Seriously. Who are you? A holder of a Role, right?_

"_Yes Miss Outsider. I'm Jericho Bermuda. Pleased to meet you miss…"-_ He left it open to let her add her name into the conversation while extending his hand for her to shake.

"_My files say that I used the code name: 'Aria Hadron Scherzi' in this world._"- She looked at his hand and then shacked it with clear hesitation and no strength. The gesture was a mere polite response and nothing more. -_"I see no reason to change it, so call me that."_

"_Your files?"-_ He didn't understood that, but he also hadn't comprehended half the things she had done during that epic fight. Besides, he ha no right or way to claim knowledge about foreigners.

The weird woman half ignored his question-"_Yes. It seems my knowledge… my memories, are quite fragmented. I, however, still possess the basic knowledge of the functioning of this world._"- She stood up once again, this time a bit less shakily and looked at him before looking away once more. It was obvious that he made her a bit uncomfortable.-_"Well. Nice meeting you, Mr. Bermuda. I shall go on my way now."_

"_You plan to leave in such a state_?"- He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch. _-" Why don't you wait here until you feel better?"_

She politely took his hand away from her - _"I appreciate your offer, but since things are so uncertain for me at the moment, I should go and harness resources of my own in order to ensure my survival."_

"_Resources for survival? What would you do?_"- This foreigner was more complicated than he though. However, her 'survival' comment irked him like nails scratching on a chalkboard.

She looked towards the door, seemingly anxious to be on her way _-"I'm a mercenary. That thing is sure in my files and programming, although I'm more of a 'white necked' one. "_\- She reminiscent for a second before she added- "_I remember helping in Clover to lessen paperwork, in Hearts about urban management, at the mansion with research, at the prison in the medical ward… I'll check my files again, but given this world and my current circumstances, more traditional mercenary jobs would be fine too. As long as there are two holders alive, one will want the other dead_, _thus ensuring me a job_."

She tried walking away but he held firm on her shoulder again -"_Then I'll hire you up. I have various territories to take care of and you need a job, right? We both gain."_

That made her stop and turn to look at him again with renewed interest. -"_Various territories_?"- Her gaze flickered with a digital shade, and she gulped as she examined him again.

"_Yes. But I think you need to rest first_."- He began leading her to a room she could use, all the while, noticing how she kept looking at him with a very scrutinizing way. _-" May I ask why you keep looking at me that way_?"

She sighed and took a deep breath. Her mouth opened and closed a couple times before she finally answered him. - _"It's because you look exactly like someone I knew from my world. Down to those scars. You are an exact copy of him, albeit a few years older. You match the age he should probably be if he had lived._"

Jericho was somewhat surprised. He knew that the blasted Hatter had looked like someone Alice Liddell knew, but to be himself in the same situation… He let her into the room and told her to rest as much as needed, he then went to his own room.

Once on his own bed, he tried to not fall asleep right away. He was afraid to sleep for long and disappear, but he knew he needed to rest, at least for now. He wasn't sure how everything was in Diamond, but it wasn't completely restored, so there was a good chance that all his enemies were still weak, that was a chance to rest somewhat. However, it was almost sure that he'd have to fight to protect his territories and then to go and get more roles to keep himself alive. There was also the issue of the outsider. He did owned her one, not only had her kitten gotten him out of the ice. She had saved everyone's lives, including his, from the Jabberwocky. And now that he knew that he looked like someone she knew and that she most than likely cared about… if he judged by that kiss, the person that looked him (or that he looked like), was someone she held in her heart in such a way that while facing the horrors of the Jabberwocky, just the mere reminder of that person had been enough to uprise her to fight again.

"_The game of hearts really is twisted._"

The time had become night, and without really much of a choice, he felt into an uneasily sleep while the full moon glowed in the sky.

In another part of Diamond, a defrosting lake glowed for a second before the surface of the mirror crystals stuck along the place showed the shadow of a big, canine-like creature approaching from the other side of the reflection. It's electric blue eyes looked around before it crossed the surface as if it was nothing but mist. He lifted his muzzle into the air and sniffed. He felt she was here even if he could not the detected her yet. But he would find her.

He took a deep breath. And with a long and looming howl, the Bandersnatch declared the start of his hunt.

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**You know the deal. ****5 reviews for the next one.**


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